Copy of Gen. Halleck order on black troops, Washington, 1863

Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton sent to Brig. Gen. George F. Shepley, military governor of Louisiana, a copy of the orders issued by Union Army General-in-Chief Henry Halleck for Gen. Daniel Ullmann to begin recruiting "colored troops as rapidly as possible."

Ullmann had been advocating for regiments of black troops and was assigned to try to recruit a brigade that would be under the service of Gen. Nathaniel Banks, commander of the Department of the Gulf.